Black Guard, The Read Online Free PDF Page B

assembled when you are ready.
    "Name, sergeant?"
    "Rosin, sir," he said, and
waited. The Guard did not distinguish men from women—your superiors were "sir"
regardless of their gender.
    "Lead on, Sergeant Rosin." I followed
him down several hallways to a large conference room.
    "Room, attention," he shouted
as he opened the door, and the room went deathly silent.
    "At ease and sit." I looked
around the room at each person before continuing— this was now my
family . I chose to remain standing. "We are the Guard. The elite of
the Jax military. We understand tradition and duty. Tradition is important. It
helps to maintain discipline which is essential in the military, and it helps
guide us in our day to day interactions. That makes it easy to believe tradition
and duty are the same." Looking around the room, I had their attention but
lots of questioning looks. "Let me give you a simple example. You and the
person you’re guarding, say a governor, are in a room when four men burst in
with guns. Jumping in front of the governor would be in the best tradition of
the Guard, but you would be doing your duty?" Most looked like they would
like to shout "yes" but understood that wasn’t the answer I was
looking for. And I was sure that had some of them were concerned about their
new captain.
    "You kill a couple of the
attackers, maybe, and the attackers kill you… and afterward, the governor,
since you’re dead and can’t protect him. The same governor it was your duty to
protect. Of course, it depends upon the situation in the room, but better to
push him to safety, giving you the freedom to move, making yourself harder to
kill, drawing attention away from the governor, and positioning yourself to
kill all four. Duty versus tradition." I took a drink of my water to give
them a chance to think about what I had said.
    "Another example. Private—"
I pointed to a tall, young female, who looked attentive and interested.
    "Nadel, sir."
    "Private Nadel sees a missile
coming at the building we are guarding. Imagine it’s a slow missile, and she has
sixty seconds before it hits and explodes. She contacts Corporal—" I
looked at a thirty-something man in front of me.
    "Preis, Captain."
    "Corporal Preis immediately
contacts Sergeant Rosin. Tradition. By now, the sixty seconds are up. Who
benefits, Nadel?" For several seconds, she stared at the table worrying
her lip with her teeth, then jerked her head up with a slight smile on her
lips.
    "Me, Captain." Most of the
people around the table stared at her in disbelief.
    "Correct. Private Nadel will have
a few seconds to find shelter, while Corporal Preis and Sergeant Rosin can’t because
they are trying to contact Lieutenant Ceder, who will die never knowing a
missile is coming. Following the chain of command—tradition. Running
screaming that a missile is coming would be duty—trying to save as many
of her team’s lives as possible." I took another drink of water while they
wrestled with their new commander’s idiosyncrasies. "Of course, those are
simple examples and circumstances would dictate the correct response, but my
point is that tradition and duty are not necessarily the same. And under my
command, duty has the highest priority." Along with ensuring we don’t
waste lives for tradition. These are my family and there are no least favorites
or throw-aways.
    * * *
    Over the next five days, I talked to
each member of my team. Lieutenant Ceder had been on two assignments, one where
his team had foiled an assassination attempt. The senior sergeants, Rosin and
Solow, had both been on multiple assignments, a couple where one or more Guards
had been killed. All but five had been on at least one previous assignment. The
sergeants conducted training exercises every day, which Ceder monitored. I
merely watched, wanting to see them in action.
    Captain Drezner, commander of the army
contingent going to Lanzhou, and I dined together twice to get to know each
other. He was an experienced